Which language is easier: Czech or Slovak? About the Slovak language

Hello, I would like to make the next video about Slovakia on the topic of the Slovak language. Many who were interested probably heard that the Slovak language is similar to Russian and even more like Ukrainian - in fact, this is so. But this does not mean that if you speak Russian or Ukrainian, you will immediately understand the Slovak language; however, if you start learning it, it will be much easier for you to do it than for a non-Russian-speaking or non-Ukrainian-speaking person, or if you were learning some other complex foreign language.

I don’t think it will be difficult for anyone to learn such new Slovak words as chlieb, syr, smotanou, klobása. But there are also many words that have nothing in common with the Russian language, but they are similar or the same as Ukrainian, for example: ďakujem, týždeň, počkať - and many similar ones. Although there are words that, on the contrary, are confusing, that is, those that are in our language and present in Slovak, but in the latter they mean a different concept, for example: stigliy (Ukrainian) - ripe, ripe, and in Slovak this means thin. But the worst of all are words that are completely opposite in meaning, for example: čerstvý, we all know that stale bread is not good, and we don’t want to buy it, but here čerstvý means fresh. Everything in the store is always “stale”, especially the bread.

There is also a lot of confusion with the word vegetables, in Ukrainian it is ovochі, and in Slovak there is a word ovocie, which means fruit. And if you want to talk about vegetables, then this is zelenina. And such words are very confusing.

To the ear, of course, Slovak is similar to our languages, because, being, for example, somewhere in Germany, you immediately hear when people walk to the side and speak Russian, because their speech stands out against the background of German or Turkish; and in Slovakia, at first it seemed to me that everyone around was speaking Russian, when you didn’t hear any individual words, but just the general background of speech or some fragments of phrases. Probably, intonations, words, sentences are similar in the Slovak and Russian languages.

Let me note that the ease of a language does not mean that it is not necessary to learn it. This must be done. There are a lot of language courses in Bratislava, even free ones, provided by the immigration center. To get to these courses, you don’t need to have any documents - you can just be a tourist who came, sat down and started classes. The teacher met you, asked your name, and that’s enough.

Everyone knows that it is much easier to learn a language by immersing yourself in its environment. This is true, but our situation is such that there is no need for everyday communication in the Slovak language. If we don’t talk about shops, then, in principle, we don’t communicate with anyone, so we created artificial conditions for ourselves: we met the locals and, one might even say, became strong friends, we talk with them. And our communication looked like this: on the first day, we conducted most of our conversations in English, asked for some words, learned them, and tried to somehow find common phrases for explanation. And now, when we talked for five evenings maximum, English is not present, all conversations take place only in Slovak, but, of course, with the phrases: “Speak more slowly, please, - or. “What does this mean?” - and then Slovaks can explain the meaning in other words or with the help of gestures. After a month of dating, you can already communicate with these people. I think that everything will go faster and better, and I am sure that it is impossible to achieve similar results in German or Spanish.

In general, what I want to conclude from all this is that the Slovak language is good, pleasant, interesting and quite easy for our people to learn. None of the European languages will be as easy for you as Slovak. Of course, this is a plus, the faster you learn the language, the faster you will join the new society, the easier it will be for you to adapt and the more pleasant it will be to be and live here. Therefore, learn the language, develop yourself and come to Slovakia.

Who will be interested in the following videos, subscribe to the channel, always stay informed, and I will try to post interesting and useful materials more often. Bye.

As a rule, citizens traveling abroad are interested in what language the residents of the state they have chosen for their trip speak. At the same time, our compatriots are often concerned about the question of whether communication in Russian is possible in a particular country. Slovakia is a small Slavic country located in the center of Europe, bordering Hungary and Austria. However, its longest borders are with Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic (with the latter it was part of a single state for a long time). This suggests that the language in Slovakia is close and understandable to Russians. In just a few days, you will be able to understand those around you without much difficulty, which means that you will be comfortable traveling, living and working in this country.

Which language is considered the official language?

The Slovak language in Slovakia is considered native by more than 80% of the population. It is very similar to Czech and Ukrainian, so Russian speakers understand it well. Half a million people (about a tenth of the population) are Hungarians who prefer the Hungarian language. By law, in places where the Hungarian population is more than 20%, their native language is used along with Slovak and is considered official.

If you are interested in what language is spoken in Slovakia besides Slovak, Czech and Hungarian, it should be noted that the Gypsy dialect and the Rusyn language, which is spoken by people from Transcarpathia, are also in use.

The processes of globalization and rapprochement with the EU contribute to the fact that many borrowings from German, Hungarian, Italian and even Russian vocabulary have appeared in the Slovak language. And yet, despite all its tolerance towards representatives of other nationalities living in the country, the official and state language of Slovakia is Slovak.

Popular languages of Slovakia

Since a large part of the country's population was born and raised in Czechoslovakia, many residents of Slovakia speak Czech.

Slovak and Czech are so close that speakers of these two languages understand each other well, read common newspapers, and translation of documents is not required even in official institutions.

Until the 19th century, Czech was considered a literary variant of Slovak, so the differences between the Slovak and Czech languages are insignificant. For almost the entire twentieth century, Czechoslovakia was a single country (1918-1939, 1945-1992). This contributed to the fact that both languages, coming into contact in everyday life, formed common syntactic structures. Both Czechs and Slovaks use the Latin alphabet, the emphasis in words falls on the first syllable, the systems of declensions and conjugations are also very similar

The most noticeable difference between the Czech and Slovak languages is in vocabulary: representatives of these two Slavic peoples name some modern objects and concepts differently, in addition, Slovak has a group of adverbs that the Czechs do not have. Yet these differences are minor. So there can be only one answer to the question of whether residents of Slovakia speak Czech or not: the vast majority of the country’s population understands and speaks Czech perfectly. In general, Czech and Slovak form a common subgroup within the group of West Slavic languages, therefore they are close and understandable to both Czechs and Slovaks.

How to choose language courses to study

And finally, the most interesting thing is the restriction of travel abroad for debtors. It is the status of the debtor that is easiest to “forget” when getting ready for your next vacation abroad. The reason may be overdue loans, unpaid housing and communal services receipts, alimony or fines from the traffic police. Any of these debts may threaten to restrict travel abroad in 2018; we recommend finding out information about the presence of debt using the proven service nevylet.rf

Many people from Russia and other CIS countries would like to move to Slovakia or send their children to study at local universities. However, for this you need to learn the Slovak language. Moreover, it is not as difficult as it seems.

For example, at the Comenius University there are one-year preparatory language courses for schoolchildren and students, allowing them to understand the peculiarities of the Slovak language. There are also language schools for adults that offer training for one to two years - they can be found both on the Internet and in many cities across the country.

Where and how they speak: geographical distribution of languages

Different languages predominate in certain regions of the country:

the northeast is the area of residence of Ukrainian-Rusyns. The center of their culture is the city of Pryashev, as well as small villages: Bardejov, Svidnik, Staraya Lyubovna. There are national schools, museums, clubs there;
compact settlements of Hungarians are located in the southern part of the country - this is the area of \u200b\u200bKomarno and Dunajska Streda. And although most local residents are bilingual, newspapers and television broadcasts in these regions are published in Hungarian.

What language is spoken in Bratislava is often asked by those who are planning to move to this country to live and work. Answering this question, it should be noted that almost all residents of the capital speak Slovak. English and German, recognized as the languages of international communication, are poorly understood by the majority of the population.

Where else do they speak Slovak?

Despite the fact that the Slovak language as an independent linguistic unit took shape relatively recently - in the 19th century, today more than 5 million people speak it in the world. Mostly these are Slovaks living in different countries who do not forget their native language.

The following diasporas are considered the most numerous:

the USA, where about 800,000 Slovaks have settled;
Czech Republic - according to various estimates, 200-300 thousand native speakers live here;
Hungary, Canada, Poland, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Romania.

According to various estimates, about a million Slovaks live abroad.

How popular are the languages of the CIS countries in Slovakia?

Many residents of this Slavic country have a good command of the languages of their closest neighbors - primarily Russian and Ukrainian, since they have a lot in common. So they will understand you very quickly.

Many Slovaks, especially members of the older generation, speak Russian tolerably well, as they learned it at school. Residents of the country often communicate with Ukrainians during short trips to Ukraine for cigarettes, gasoline and other goods, in addition, many Ukrainians come to Slovakia to earn money, so the Ukrainian language is also understood here and can even be spoken. So if you have chosen this country for study or permanent residence, you will not have any language problems.

How we learned Slovak: Video

If you ask Google how different the Czech and Slovak languages are, it returns a lot of articles, but in most of them the authors state something like the following:
"Czechs and Slovaks understand each other without problems."
“The specialists working in the translation agency with the Slovak language also translate documents or texts in Czech. The difference between these two languages is small, it is much smaller than, for example, between Ukrainian and Russian. Despite the fact that today the Czech Republic and Slovakia are two different countries, situations are typical here when language products created for one country are used without translation in another. For example, in Slovakia no one is embarrassed by film shows in Czech, and in the Czech Republic they easily play commercials in which the characters speak Slovak. To communicate with each other on a personal and official level, these two peoples do not require the services of a translation agency."

This contradicted the story of my father, who often went on business trips to Czechoslovakia during the Soviet Union. One of the colleagues there was Slovak and he once asked him what the difference was between Czech and Slovak. He began to explain at length and was unclear (at least for the translator), and then, to illustrate, he said something in Czech and repeated it in Slovak. Father... understood almost everything. Although I hardly understood Czech. And - he spoke in Ukrainian. Slovak... also understood almost everything. Then they communicated with him in this way without an interpreter, repeating something in German: the Slovak was an elderly man and did not know Russian, but he remembered a little German, like his father.

So, today in Kyiv at an exhibition dedicated to education, I met Czechs who were here advertising their University of South Bohemia and sharing their experience at various round tables. One of them speaks excellent Russian. The conversation somehow turned from education to the history of Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the differences between Czechs and Slovaks, Ukrainians and Russians, and languages. It turned out that Ivan is sure that the Russian and Ukrainian languages are even more similar than Czech and Slovak. Because he understands Ukrainian, although he doesn’t speak it. But his twenty-year-old niece, when she recently went to visit relatives in Slovakia, was forced to communicate in English with her peers who did not know Czech. And this is now a common story. That is, the older generations, indeed, were poorly aware of the difference between the two languages, since under Czechoslovakia both were heard on radio and television. But over the quarter century that has passed since the “divorce,” generations of Czechs have grown up who no longer understand Slovak.
Now, at the hotel, I began to look for what Czech linguists think about this. It turns out they

Since the early Middle Ages, when the ancient Great Moravian state ceased to exist, the Slovak lands were under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Czechs, on the contrary, created their own statehood. For the time being, the connections between the “relatives” were not too close. The situation began to change in the 19th century, when the Czech Republic and Hungary (with its constituent Slovak lands) were provinces of the Habsburg monarchy. At first, the Czech and Slovak national movements were small circles of intellectuals engaged in studying the national language and promoting Slavic cultural traditions. But gradually the number of “nationally conscious” Czechs and Slovaks grew. Political demands began to be made. Bratislava historian Jan Mlynarik talks about the origins of the Slovak national movement:

“The first document of the modern Slovak people was the “Wishes of the Slovaks”, adopted at a meeting of leaders of the national movement on May 10, 1848 in Liptovsky Mikulas, chaired by Ludovit Štúr. But, as we know, only the fall of the regime of Bach’s absolutism made it possible for the Slovaks to put forward their demands again. Then the second document of Slovak policy was adopted - on June 6, 1861 in Turčanský Martin under the title “Memorandum of the Slovak People.” It expressed the wish that the Diet of Hungary recognize the Slovaks as a separate people; that the lands inhabited by Slovaks constitute an autonomous territory within Hungary called “Slovak Land”; that only the Slovak language is used in public life, in institutions, churches and schools in Slovakia and that Slovak cultural institutions receive support from the state treasury. But, as we know, this document, under the conditions of the then Habsburg monarchy, did not find understanding among the ruling circles.”

It should be noted that the Slovaks were subjected to stronger political pressure and persecution on ethnic grounds than the Czechs. Since 1867, the Habsburg monarchy was called Austria-Hungary, and both of its parts - the western, which included the Czech Republic, and the eastern, Hungarian, which included the Slovaks - enjoyed significant autonomy in domestic politics. The Hungarian authorities, despite the proclaimed equality of all peoples of the country, set a course for Magyarization, the complete dominance of the Hungarian language in government, public life and the education system.

Under these conditions, the leaders of the Slovak national movement sought to cooperate with Czech activists, who managed to achieve notable success in defending national identity. The famous Slovak public figure Ludovit Stur noted: “God bless us from separation [from the Czechs]. We want and will remain closely connected with them. Whenever they achieve something significant, we will learn from them and remain in spiritual unity with them.” In 1896, a society called “Czech-Slovak Unity” was founded in Prague. Since 1908, annual meetings of Czech and Slovak intelligentsia have been held in the Moravian resort town of Luhačovice.

At the same time, the project of the Czech-Slovak national-state unification acquired real outlines only during the First World War. One of the leaders of the Czechoslovak National Committee, created in the West by Professor Tomas Masaryk, was Milan Rastislav Stefanik, a Slovak astronomer, traveler and military pilot who then served in the French army. He represented the interests of Slovaks in emigrant circles, whose goal was the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the creation of an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks. This was achieved in the fall of 1918. On October 30, representatives of Slovak political parties and intellectuals gathered in Turčanský Martin, where they adopted the “Declaration of the Slovak People.” It, in particular, said that “the Slovak people are part of the unified Czechoslovak people from a linguistic and cultural-historical point of view.” Two days earlier, the independence of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed in Prague.

The concept of “Czechoslovakism” was an important part of the ideology of the new republic. Czechs and Slovaks were proclaimed one people, the “Czechoslovak language” was declared the state language, which, however, existed “in two forms” - Czech and Slovak. This theory reflected, on the one hand, the beliefs of the creators of Czechoslovakia, and on the other, political necessity. After all, only the close alliance of the Czechs and Slovaks provided them with a noticeable advantage over the numerous national minorities of the new country, primarily the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians. Edvard Benes, the second president of the republic, was filled with optimism about the unity of the “Czechoslovak people” even when clouds were already gathering over the country. This is what Benes said when addressing the Slovaks during a visit to Bratislava in 1936:

“If Slovakia and the entire republic are inspired and filled with such love for our people’s ideals, for the mission of our state - the love that I saw here these days with you - nothing will happen to the republic, it will prosper and be great.”

In reality, however, the picture was not so idyllic. Friction between Czechs and Slovaks began as early as the 1920s, when Slovak politicians began to push for the autonomy they claimed had been promised to Slovakia when the republic was created in 1918. The Slovak political scene was split into centralists and autonomists. Among the latter, the leading role was played by the People's Party (in Slovak - ľudáci), led by the long-time leader of the Slovak national movement, Catholic priest Andrei Hlinka. Since 1930, the demand for broad autonomy has been on the program of this party. The economic backwardness of Slovakia compared to the Czech Republic, the influx of Czech specialists (doctors, engineers, teachers) to Slovakia, the growth of unemployment, and imbalances in the national policy of the Prague government caused discontent among many Slovaks. In some cases these disparities were very noticeable. Thus, in the Czechoslovak army in the second half of the 30s, only one out of 130 generals was Slovak, and in total the share of representatives of this people in the officer corps did not even reach 4 percent!

Nevertheless, the absolute majority of the Slovak population, including supporters of the People's Party, showed loyalty to the republic. In May 1938, when elections to local authorities were held in Slovakia, the bloc “Slovak Association for Czechoslovak Democracy and Republic” won a convincing victory, gaining 44 percent of the votes. The People were in second place with 27 percent, the Communists in third (7 percent). However, in the fall of the same year, after the Munich Agreement of the Great Powers, which was tragic for Czechoslovakia, the Slovak autonomists achieved the implementation of their plans. The powers of the central government were noticeably curtailed, and Slovakia received broad self-government. This victory, however, had a bitter aftertaste: under pressure from Nazi Germany, the southern regions of Slovakia, where the majority was Hungarian, were annexed to Hungary in November 1938.

The Nazi plans, however, included the final destruction of Czechoslovakia. Germany used the sentiments of the radical wing of the people, led by Vojtech Tuka, to provoke a crisis in Slovakia. When, on March 9, 1939, in response to radical protests, Prague imposed martial law on the territory of Slovakia, Hitler intervened. The leader of the People's Party, Josef Tiso, was invited to Berlin, where the Nazi leader effectively presented him with an ultimatum: either Slovakia declares itself independent, or it "will be left to its fate." The second option contained an unambiguous threat: Hitler could allow his ally Hungary, who dreamed of restoring the previous borders, to occupy Slovakia.

In this gloomy atmosphere, on March 14, 1939, the Slovak parliament declared the country's independence. The next day, German troops occupied Czech lands, declared the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.” The collapse of the Czechoslovak state turned out to be the work of the Nazis to a greater extent than a consequence of the Slovaks' desire for self-determination. The representative of the People's Party, the future Minister of Internal Affairs of Slovakia, one of the organizers of the repressions against Slovak Jews, Alexander Mach, said then in a radio address:

“With such a significant change in the map of Europe, with the occupation of the Czech Republic and Moravia by German troops, we also had to take certain measures in order to prevent bloodshed. But we assure you: everything that is happening now is being done in the name of preserving peace and with the consent of the competent authorities. In our effort to ensure peace and tranquility in our land - in this effort we are supported by the greatest nation of our time and its great leader, and we believe that peace will be preserved and our rights will be ensured.”

The world, as we know, was not saved. Slovakia, having become a satellite of Germany, took part in the war against the USSR and Western allies. However, many Slovaks very soon became disillusioned with “independence” under Hitler’s wing. A partisan movement arose, which in the fall of 1944 grew into the Slovak National Uprising. Although the Germans managed to suppress it, a few months later Soviet troops entered Slovak territory. The Czechoslovak Republic was restored - but the never-resolved problems of Czech-Slovak relations again came to the fore. The centralist structure of the republic still did not suit a significant part of the Slovaks. Moreover, the political mood in the west and east of the country was different: if in the Czech lands in the elections of 1946 the Communist Party (CHR) took the lead, then in Slovakia the Democratic Party, which was suspicious of the communists’ desire to monopolize power in the country, won by a large margin. In 1948, after the communist coup in Prague, this party was defeated, many of its activists (like Czech opponents of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) ended up in prisons and camps.

The concept of “Czechoslovakism” was rejected after the war. But many communist leaders seemed to be its adherents: they saw Slovak separatism and nationalism even where there was no sign of it. Antonin Novotny, since 1957 - President of Czechoslovakia, was especially distinguished by this. This is how the Czech historian Jiri Pernes describes his scandalous visit to Slovakia in his book “They Ruled Us”: “Novotny’s mistrust of the Slovaks reached its apogee during his trip to Martin in August 1967, on the centenary of the founding of the first Slovak gymnasium. The President came into conflict with the delegation of the cultural and educational society “Matica Slovenska”, refused to accept the gifts prepared for him and shouted “God, don’t take anything!” that went down in history! - I forbade this to my wife as well. Then he turned around and, without saying goodbye, left for Prague, without completing the planned visit program.”

Novotny did not take into account that times had changed. The president's behavior caused outrage not only in Slovakia. Under pressure from the reformist wing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Novotny was removed from all posts at the beginning of 1968. The symbol of the beginning of the “Prague Spring” was his successor, Slovakian Alexander Dubcek. But, as you know, reforms in Czechoslovakia were frozen after the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968. After the fall of Dubcek, a new course towards the so-called “normalization” was proclaimed by another Slovak, Gustav Husak, who became the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and later the president of the republic. After the invasion of foreign troops, a law was passed that transformed Czechoslovakia into a federation. But it was a federal state only on paper - all the most important political issues were resolved in the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Prague, and the most important ones were decided in Moscow. However, Czech-Slovak relations turned out to be inscribed in the communist concept of history. This is how one of the leaders of the Slovak communists, Viliam Shalgovich, formulated it, speaking on the radio in 1978:

“With the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic, the closest Slavic peoples - the Czechs and Slovaks - reunited in a common home after centuries of separation. Their long-standing dream, passed down from generation to generation, came true - to live in a single state. A very long era of national oppression ended, opportunities were created for the development of national culture and for some social and democratic changes. The emergence of independent Czechoslovakia was the result of many years of national liberation struggle. The immediate conditions for this state-political act were created by the Great October Socialist Revolution, which showed the path to the liberation of peoples from all forms of oppression.”

The fall of the communist regime in 1989 seemingly created the conditions for the formation of a democratic federal state of Czechs and Slovaks. But it turned out that the desire of Czech and Slovak politicians for unity is not so great - in contrast to the desire to increase their popularity by inflating national passions. Already in 1990, the so-called “war over the dash” flared up, associated with the name of the state: the Czechs insisted on the previous spelling of “Czechoslovakia” - in one word, while the Slovaks demanded a hyphen: “Czecho-Slovakia”. Finally, a compromise was adopted: the country was officially called the “Czech and Slovak Federal Republic” (CSFR), the abbreviated name in Slovak could be written with a hyphen, in Czech - without it.

The political and psychological reasons for the alienation of Czechs and Slovaks were formulated in 1992 by the President of the Czechoslovak Republic Vaclav Havel in an interview with Slovak radio:

“A Czech who would argue that Slovaks are strange, second-rate or suspicious only because they are somewhat different from the Czechs and strive to somehow realize their national identity - such a person would be crazy, and it seems to me that there are no such people in the Czech Republic very little. However, on the other hand, it is true that a certain distrust of any national liberation efforts of the Slovaks is very common among Czechs. The reason is simple. The fact is that among Czechs the national feeling and tradition of Czech statehood somehow merge with the feeling of belonging to Czechoslovakia and its statehood. People here in the Czech Republic consider everything federal much more theirs than in Slovakia, where everything federal is often perceived as something imposed, something slightly hostile, something suspicious.”

The parliamentary elections of 1992 led to the victory of “multidirectional” political forces in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: the Czechs gave the majority of votes to the right-wing liberal pro-Western Civic Democratic Party of Vaclav Klaus, while the Slovaks supported the authoritarian nationalist Vladimir Meciar and his Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. Contrary to expectations, both politicians quickly found a common language, preferring the division of the country. This decision was a top decision, the majority of the population did not support it: according to polls, in March 1992, only 17% of Slovaks and 11% of Czechs were in favor of the independence of the two republics. (True, 32% of Slovaks and only 6% of Czechs were in favor of replacing the federation with a confederation). Nevertheless, there were no loud regrets about the end of Czechoslovakia.

On January 1, 1993, two new states arose in place of the Czechoslovak Republic - the Czech and Slovak Republics. It is characteristic that the flag of the former federation was inherited by the Czech Republic - as well as the holiday of October 28. But the paths of the two countries crossed again, and quite soon: since May 2004, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been members of the European Union. The rivalry between Czechs and Slovaks now exists mainly in sports: the atmosphere during football and hockey matches between the two teams is usually electric. The Czechs, of course, were upset that their team, unlike the Slovak team, would not go to the World Cup in South Africa next year. But the majority of Czech fans will undoubtedly worry about their neighbors.

These are two possible options for either a cultural or educational holiday not too far from home.

What are the features of these countries? What are their similarities and differences from an immigrant's (and tourist's) point of view? We will try to find answers to these questions in this article.

Related traits

Firstly, it should be noted that the similarities are quite great: after all, it was once a single country, with a common government, social system, and management system. Czechoslovakia existed from the end of World War II until 1993.

By level of economic development both states are at approximately the same level.

The Czech Republic has a slightly higher standard of living and economic development.

On the other hand, Slovakia is taking very active steps to improve its situation and is a very attractive destination for foreign investment.

Therefore, by the way, the process is quite simple.

These countries are similar in mentality of the population, as well as the general appearance of cities and attractions.

As travel agencies that organize holidays in Slovakia and the Czech Republic boast, these countries have EVERYTHING except the sea.

Prices in these countries are also quite close, including real estate prices (see articles “ “, “ “).

The languages are similar - Czechs and Slovaks easily understand each other. Many words of both languages will be clear to Russian.

Both countries have similar immigration law, although there are some specifics (see below).

Peculiar signs

What are the differences between these countries regarding moving to permanent residence and emigration?

Here are the main facts:

Obtaining a residence permit (residence permit) in Slovakia by registering a company is generally easier. In the Czech Republic, after opening an LLC, you are issued a business visa, and only a year later - a residence permit. In SR you receive a residence permit immediately, even in the process of opening a business.
Slovakia is somewhat more conveniently located - closer to Western countries; Many people, having moved to Slovakia, work, for example, in Vienna.
According to many reviews, the attitude of Slovaks towards foreigners is much more favorable.
It is necessary to remember the previously mentioned higher standard of living in the Czech Republic.

Good luck in tourism and immigration!